Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-01-28
CHINESE PIRATES.


Hong Kong in pretty bad shape. After
had carried flag of distress, as you
might say, for two weeks. an English
man offered to let me work my passage
to Liverpool, but as l was about to accept
1t ran across countryman who had a
berth for me. One of the largest trading
houses in Canton at that time was com
posed of three Americans and they owned
two small steamers and three or four sail
craft. These vessels were employed in
collecting goods from the various islands
to the southeast. and some of the voy-
ages extended up the Yellow sea as far as
Teng-chow. Just at that time the firm
had come into possession of new
steamer, and she was about to make her
first voyage. There had been trouble
with piratical craft. and the steamer had
been fitted out to take care of herself.
She carried two six Founders, twenty
American cavalry carbines score of re-
volvers. and was fixed to throw hot
water over boarders. Her compliment of
men was fifteen. of whom the cook.
steward and three firemen were natives.
All others We're Americans and English
men. The supercargo was an American,
who could rattle off the Chinese language
as well as the best of EN-, and the cap
tain and some of the others could "smat-
ter more or less.
Our first voyage was to be up the Vel
low sea, and we carried load of Ameri-
can and English goods. The cargo well
deserved the name of ''miscelaneous. -
There were muskets fish spears. sole
leather, tinware, looking glasses. calicoes,
buttons, stoneware. lamps. fish nets, gro
ceries. axes and almost everything else
you can think of, and the sllpercargo also
carried money to purchase what we could
not traffic for. We were to pick up in
exchange whatever foreign markets called
for i'll Canton. which included teas, rice,
several species of nuts, dye stuffs, roots,
banks, skins, etc.
| was in luck to secure the place of
mate. for Capt. Tabor was a splendid fell
low and tho crew was one which could be
depended on. We had three or four men
who understood the handling of the six
Founders, which had been sent over from
the United States. and with the supply of
small arms at hand we felt ourselves a
match for anything except a regular gun
boat. We got away in good shape. ran
up between the coast and the island of
Formosa. and then steered to the north
east to fetch the Lioo-Kioo islands. which
are seven or eight in number and deal in
ginseng. sarsaparilla and other medical
roots. We stopped day at Ke-Lung,
which is at the northern end of Formosa.
and almost opposite Foochow, on the
mainland, and while here it was noticed
that the native members of our crew were
very thick with a lot of suspicious charac-
hn Il, a..
greater part Of the day. The supercargo
overheard them discussing our VOYAGE
and making many inquiries, and when he
spoke of the matter to the steward that
pigtailed gentleman explained that all our
natives were related to the strangers who
had been hanging about, and of course
the latter took an interest in them.
| didn't know Chinese characters as
well as some of the others. and was there
fore somewhat surprised to hear the cap
tain and supercargo discussing the impu-
dence of the natives aboard before we had
left ke-Lung by fifty miles. The fire
men had given the engineer trouble and
the steward had certain sort of impu-
dence in his obedience to commands.
did not know until now that a gang of
twenty or more of the fellows at Ke-
Lung had attempted to induce the cap
tain to give them passage to the island of
Tseeusan, which we meant to visit. They
had offered big passage money and were
willing to put up with any accommoda-
tons, but he mistrusted them, and firmly
declined to have one of them aboard.
The steward and firemen were soundlv
berated by the captain and threatened
with irons If any more trouble occurred,
and there the matter was dropped At
the close of the second day we dropped
anchor off small island to the south
west of Tseeusan called Kung-Wah.
There was no harbor, but the depth of
the water enabled us to get within a
cables length of the beach in a COMPARE
lively sheltered spot.
Capt. Tabor had traded at this island a
year before, and he knew that the natives
were all right as long as they were kept
In awe by superior force. There was a
trader on the island who had a large
stock of roots, and after palaver lasting
two days and nights the supercargo
finally made bargain with him. twas
observed by the captain that some change
had come over the natives, for on his pre-
vious trip they had been eager to close a
bargain at any figure named. The natives
in our crew had been permitted to 90
ashore, and dozen or more of the lead
ing men of the island had come aboard
and inspected us. 1t was night of the
second day before trade was agreed
upon. On the following day we were to
begin landing and receiving goods. There
was big crowd Of natives on shore op-
posite the steamer, and they had canoes,
ca;amarans and dhows enough to have
embarked 300 people. Just before night
closed IN we sighted large junk coming
down from the direction of Formosa but
gave her no particular attention. At
about 8 O'Clock she came Jogging along at
a tramp's gait, and dropped her mud
hook within 200 feet of U.S. | gave her a
looking over with the night glass, and as
only five or six men could be made out on
her decks, it was natural to conclude that
she was trader.